Junior Fa remains undefeated with first round victory in Columbus

RINGSIDE 06/03/2019

On Saturday night in Columbus, OH, world ranked heavyweight Junior Fa (17-0, 10 KOs), of Otahuhu, New Zealand, knocked out former French heavyweight champion Newfel Ouatah (16-3, 9 KOs), in the first round of their scheduled 10-rounder, headlining a SPECIAL EDITION of Broadway Boxing presented by DiBella Entertainment and streamed live on LIVE.DBE1.com, as part of DBE’s partnership with CBS Sports Digital and Sportslive.

The event was part of the 31st annual Arnold Sports Festival, the world’s largest sports festival, curated by entertainment legend and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Defending the interim WBO Oriental title for the second time, Fa thrilled the crowd at the Voinovich Center with four massive knockdowns of Ouatah, before the referee called a halt to the onslaught at the 2:51 mark of the initial stanza.

With the tremendous performance, Fa, ranked no. 9 by the WBO, will continue his rise in the world rankings as he works his way toward a future world title fight.

In the co-featured eight-round heavyweight bout, George Arias (13-0, 8 KOs), of The Bronx, NY, won a hotly contested eight-round majority decision against Robert Simms (8-3, 3 KOs), of Saginaw, MI. Scores at the end of the contest were 77-75 twice and 76-76.

Rounding out the stellar heavyweight action, Auckland, New Zealand native Hemi “The Heat” Ahio (13-0, 9 KOs) made his US debut a rousing success with a seventh-round stoppage of Ed Fountain (12-4, 5 KOs), of St. Louis, MO, in a scheduled eight-rounder.

Cleveland, OH middleweight prospect Isaiah Steen (12-0, 10 KOs) broke down Chicago southpaw Chris Chatman (15-10-1, 5 KOs) through five-and-a-half rounds. In the sixth frame, a jab-right hand upstairs dropped Chatman for the first time then a combination, punctuated by a left uppercut, felled him again to end matters.